Of course, just because it's a historical trend doesn't mean, by any measure, that Bush is off the hook. I for one am rather trigger-happy pissed that Bush has, yet again, passed the buck. "Oh, it's not my fault! It's bad intelligence! I'm with you guys, I wanted peace! It's not like I had Dick Cheney pressuring the CIA daily, or was willing to accept any half-assed justification I tripped over in my own pretzel-choking incompetence. Really!"

And while we're blogging about historical trends, the WWI entry in this article reminded me of something. If I remember my nutty history lessons correctly, the Lusitania was transporting arms for the British war effort (hence the big explosions), but no one bothered to tell the public. So maybe lying administrations are a trend too?